ECHO...
Echo...
echo...
I remember cupping my hands around my mouth and saying this as a child when I was touring a massive cave with my family. What child can witness stalagmites and stalactites for the first time and not take a crack at it?
But what if I'm in a kind of cave now and don't know it. What if my world has no visible calcium-formed columns or other underground features, but an echo persists?
It is an act of uncomfortable discipline to examine whether I have, perhaps unintentionally, built an entire echo chamber around myself. A cave that confirms my unconscious bias, making me feel comfortably correct all of the time.
A sure confirmation of this would be if I find myself feeling strongly these words: "I don't get those idiots. Everyone I'm hearing from agrees with me on all this stuff. It's so obvious!"
Before you, dear reader, jump to the conclusion that others need to hear this truth, remember, with me, that it is the wiser way to not presume it is “others” who need to evaluate their echo chamber. Let me first examine mine.
How could I counteract my natural inclination towards echo chambering my life?
1) Seek to know and befriend those different than me.
I am a Church-ordained male who grew up in the midwest portion of the United States. I'm socio-economically upper-middle-income, highly read and educated, and an Anglo descendant of English and German ancestry. I sometimes imagine what the opposite of all these experiences might be. I consider, in turn, a female non-clergy person who is either an Atheist or from another religion like Buddhism or Islam. She grew up on the other side of the Globe (my antipode) in Southeast Asia. Socio-economically lower income, she would not be highly educated, and descended from Asian ancestors in a place like Thailand or Indonesia. My opposite has a lot to help me learn.
2) Listen and ask questions more.
I need a humble inquisitiveness to learn why someone might have a different perspective than my own. It can help me discover how experiences and context might influence someone else, and thus not underestimate the same about myself.
3) Begin to see the other side, even if unconvinced.
I can do this by mirroring what I hear from others. Starting sentences like, "I hear you saying that..." or even, "What I am hearing from others who think about it differently than me is...." Fairly articulating different perspectives will help me see where I have created straw men opponents I can easily do target practice on in my arguments. This requires a more engaged mind and no small amount of empathy, especially when my instinct tell me the opposing view is harmful to me, society, or even the whole world.
4) Seek out alternative media perspectives.
Much is made these days of which media is to be trusted or ignored or even black-listed or cancelled. The bigger problem is how fundamentalist we can all become about these opinions. It's not uncommon for us to completely ignore something because of the source. I see this all the time as people share things on social media, and there is an immediate rejection based on the media company that hosted the material, before it’s even read. Some dismiss everything from certain places as "mainstream media" or "conspiracy-lovers" or "right-wing crazies" or "leftist commies." If I begin to label sources and even persons in this way, then it's time to calm myself and become a more thoughtful consumer of information from a greater variety of sources, even, and especially, from one I tend to disagree with. Are some sources unreliable? Surely they are. But, “even a broken clock,” right? I imagine you know the rest of the saying.
5) Re-evaluate my convictions, and in some cases firm them up.
Engaging other views doesn't mean I liquidate all my convictions. Sometimes they remain stronger than they were before because they've become tested by the opposition, or through my measured reconsideration, I've refined my ideas of the dross, and only a steely conviction remains. Although from time to time, it is wise to put the steel back into the molten heat again. All minds accrete both rust and prejudice with time, including mine.
That’s what I’m attempting to do. How about you? Reply to this from your inbox or leave a comment at this button to tell me how you counter your tendency to create your own cave of echoes.
Questions for our interaction:
What would a person who is the polar opposite of your experiences be like? Describe them.
What are you learning from relationships with those different than you?
What convictions have you re-evaluated because of new information or new relationships?
What dangers are there, if any, to this approach? What might worry you about this process?
Which convictions have you firmed up after expanded knowledge and relationship?
Excellent, per usual. The thought/question in the back of my head while reading was, "And what if in leaving the echo chamber I may be in I leave far enough from home base that I no longer belong anywhere?" <-- My heart wrenching difficulty. Echo chambers aren't good, but it feels weird to perceive that you no longer belong where you'd been and aren't welcome with those you're now interacting with. A man of no country.
BUT What I am learning from relationships with those different than you - There is far more richness and texture and helpful ideas and language beyond my circle/echo chamber. It's been enriching to move beyond those starting points.